Nueva Delhi: former Chhattisgarh main minister and Congress leader, Bhupesh Baghel politically motivated. He claimed that the action was intended to create material for the speech of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the State on March 30.
Baghel said he had not received any prior notice about searches at his official residence in Raipur and said he was not responsible for “what the CBI had planted there.”
The CBI searches at Baghel’s reside in Raipur and Bhilai on Wednesday in relation to the alleged RS 6,000 million rupees Mahadev application scam. The authorities said that the houses of high police officers and individuals associated with the former prime minister were also registered.
Baghel said the CBI took documents related to its assets and grabbed its mobile phones of its residence in Bhilai. Among those whose facilities were recorded were the MLA Devendra Yadav Congress in Bhilai, former political advisor Vinod Verma and IPS officers Anand Chhabra, Abhishek Pallava, Arif Shaikh and Pashant Agrawal. The service officer of the State Police Sanjay Dhruv was also among those whose houses were raided, according to Fuentes.
After the search in his residence of Bhilai, Baghel said: “The raids were politically motivated. The action was carried out only to generate content for the discourse of the prime minister during his next visit to the State on March 30. There was no other reason.”
He also said that the CBI had a search warrant for his residence in Bhilai, but did not inform him about the raid at his official residence in Raipur.
“I did not receive any notice about the raids in Raipur’s official residence. I learned about the raids after leaving the house. Whatever they have planted there, I will not be responsible for it because neither I nor the members of my family were there. This is their conspiracy (of CBI),” he said while talking to the reporters.
Baghel said the previous Government of the Congress had acted against the application of Mahadev bets.
“During the Government (previous) of Congress in the State, around 74 FIR were presented in relation to the application of mahadev bets and more than 200 people were arrested and more than 2000 bank accounts related to it were frozen.
“We take measures against the application, but they (government agencies) claim that we protect the application and take money. How will the measures that take action money take? The protection money is taken where there is a double engine (government) and bets are still functional,” he said.
He also said that the Congress government had asked the center to issue a surveillance warning against the promoters of the application, Saurabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal, and arrested them abroad.
“But (Guru Religious) Pradeep Mishra, who praises BJP, visited Dubai by becoming a guest of Saurabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal.
“If CBI officials have courage, they should ask Pardeep Mishra whose program is currently in progress in the home district of Prime Minister Vishnu Deo Sai in Jashpur about their relations with Saurabh Chandrakar and Pradeep Mishnra,” Baghel said.
He also said that although the promoters of the application had been seen in photos with BJP leaders, measures were not being taken against them, while Congress leaders were being investigated.
Baghel mentioned that he was supposed to attend a meeting of the Delhi writing committee for the AICC session in Ahmedabad, but could not go due to the raids.
“The CBI entered my house around 7.30 am and left at 9.15 pm even though the search ended around 4.15 pm asked.
He said the ED had taken photocopies of his property related to the property, while the CBI took the original documents.
“I told the CBI to leave photocopies because and Eow will follow them. Otherwise, what will be recovered in the name of the action?” said.
Baghel also said that, although the raid for erectile dysfunction was linked to an alleged liquor scam and that the CBI action was related to the Mahadev application, both agencies were investigating their assets.
“The previous government of Raman Singh-Head BJP had probe my assets. The state’s Eow did the same. I invite all the agencies to join and do an investigation at the same time. The actions are intended to defame and harass me,” he said.
He claimed that the BJP was frustrated after he became the Congress in charge of Punjab and that he was recently authorized by the court in a CD case of seven years (Sleaze).
Meanwhile, the Deputy Minister of Chhattisgarh, Prime Minister Arun Sao, said that Congress should not connect CBI searches with politics and should cooperate with the investigation.
Last year, the state government delivered more than 70 cases related to the mahadev scam to the CBI, including one registered with the Wing of Economic Crimes (EOW).
The compliance address, which is also investigating the case, claimed that his investigation revealed the participation of several Chhattisgarh politicians and bureaucrats.
The application was a general union that organized online platforms for illegal betting websites to register new users, create user ID and wash money through a network in layers of bank accounts ‘Benami,’ he said.
